Heartbeats in the Muck

The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition

Revised Updated Edition

Author John Waldman

A Fordham University Press Publication

First edition was won the New York Society Library Award 2000-"Waldman's background as a field biologist has equipped him to describe the harbor's ecological history, but his gift for graceful narration is all his own."-Elizabeth Barlow Rogers

2012 is Fortieth Anniversary of the Clean Water Act (18 Oct 2012)

Chronicles the fascinating history of New York Harbor - a rich aquatic wilderness that surrounds the world's greatest city.

Focuses on the animals, water quality, and habitats of the harbor, with personal accounts of the explorations of its farthest camp near the George Washington Bridge, the Arthur Kill (home of the resurgent heron colonies), the Hackensack Meadowlands, the darkness under a giant Manhattan pier, and the famously polluted Gowanus Canal.

Offers a positive prognosis. Environmental action and awareness has allowed the harbor to begin cleaning itself. Although it will never regain its native biological glory, the return of oysters, striped bass, and a host of other creatures are symbols of what once seemed impossible - New York Harbor reborn.

Heartbeats in the Muck was originally published in 1999 by Lyons Press and was well reviewed. FUP will reissue it with an epilogue written by the author to bring the state of the harbor to 2012.

Heartbeats in the Muck

The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition

Revised Updated Edition

Author John Waldman

A Fordham University Press Publication

Description

An intimate look at New York Harbor's incredible arc of history, from pristine animal abundances to the suffocation of marine life, and ultimately to an ongoing but surprisingly hopeful recovery.

Heartbeats in the Mucktraces the incredible arc of New York Harbor's environmental history. Once a pristine estuary bristling with oysters and striped bass and visited by sharks, porpoises, and seals, the harbor has been marked by centuries of rampant industrialization and degradation of its natural environment. Garbage dumping, oil spills, sewage sludge, pesticides, heavy metals, poisonous PCBs, landfills, and dredging greatly diminished life in the harbor, in some places to nil.

Now, forty years after the Clean Water Act began to resurrect New York
Harbor, John Waldman delivers a new edition of his New York Society Library Award-winning book. Heartbeats in the Muck is a lively, accessible narrative of the animals, water quality, and habitats of the harbor. It includes captivating personal accounts of the author's explorations of its farthest and most noteworthy reaches, treating readers to an intimate environmental tour of a shad camp near the George Washington Bridge, the Arthur Kill (home of the resurgent heron colonies), the Hackensack Meadowlands, the darkness under a giant Manhattan pier, and the famously polluted Gowanus Canal. A new epilogue details some of the remarkable changes that have come upon New York Harbor in recent years.

Waldman's prognosis is a good one: Ultimately, environmental awareness and action
has allowed the harbor to begin cleaning itself. Although it will never regain its native biological glory, the return of oysters, herons, and a host of other creatures is an indication of New York Harbor's rebirth.

This excellent, engaging introduction to the ecological issues surrounding New York Harbor will appeal to students and general readers alike. Heartbeats in the Muck is a must-read for anyone who likes probing the wilds, whether country or city, and natural history books such as Beautiful Swimmers and Mannahatta.

Heartbeats in the Muck

The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition

Revised Updated Edition

Author John Waldman

A Fordham University Press Publication

Table of Contents

Introduction1. The Essential Harbor2. Vita Marinae3. The Medium: Sewers, Sludge, and Other Forms of Water Torture4. The Vessel: Bank and Bottom, Bulldozers and Blasts5. How is the Harbor Doing6. Epilogue7. Bibliography8. Index

Heartbeats in the Muck

The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition

Revised Updated Edition

Author John Waldman

A Fordham University Press Publication

Author Information

John Waldman is Professor of Biology at Queens College, City University of New York. He is recipient of the New York Society Library Award in Natural History and the Norcross Wildlife Conservation Award and is an occasional contributor to the New York Times and other periodicals.

Heartbeats in the Muck

The History, Sea Life, and Environment of New York Harbor, Revised Edition

Revised Updated Edition

Author John Waldman

A Fordham University Press Publication

Reviews and Awards

"Will be of great interest . . . Waldman's lively anecdotal text is well documented by citations to old maps, documents, and historic photographs."-Library Journal (from the first edition)

"New York Harbor's vast network of moving or placid, fresh, brackish, and saltwater' still holds a startling variety of marine life whose past, present, and future Waldman surveys in this exemplary and compact work of popular ecology. Sometimes describing his own trips through creeks and up inlets, in the manner of John McPheen, Waldman explains what sorts of marine life live in and near the Hudson, the East River and the Meadowlands, how engineering and shipping have affected them and how decreased pollution around New York has allowed various species to begin to return."-Publishers Weekly (from the first edition)

"Heartbeats in the Muck gives the reader a sense of lost New York, of the incredibly rich and biologically diverse ecosystem that once was the lower Hudson River estuary. A great book on an very important subject."-Ted Steinberg, Case Western Reserve University

"Hurricane Sandy reminded New Yorkers that the waterways surrounding them can be a dire threat as well as a great asset. This is a good time to explore their history. John Waldman, a biology professor at Queens College, offers a brief and elegantly written tour in "Heartbeats in the Muck: The History, Sea Life and Environment of New York Harbor."-The New York Times

"This Book is a solid four star-plus. Books like 'Heartbeats in the Much' will forever provide a means of inspiration (and enjoyment)." -The Nature of Cities